VIENNA — During a routine mammogram in 2023, Kim Noyes, of Leslie, discovered that she had stage 2 breast cancer and needed a double mastectomy in September that year.

After rounds of treatment, including breast expanders, radiation and hormone blockers the next three years, the cancer still progressed. The doctor, on Aug. 26, diagnosed Noyes with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer.

Now that the cancer has spread to her sternum, T3 vertebra and her sixth rib, Noyes, 66, has a terminal yet controllable condition. She shares her story so that others can learn about her challenges as they go through their own.

“Their journey won’t be the same as mine, but it might make it a little easier and a little less surprising if they know what somebody else has gone through,” she said.

Before the metastatic diagnosis, Noyes had been working at the Union Walmart for 34 years, but in June, she suffered from severe sternum pain because the cancer caused a fracture. Now she is on a leave of absence.

Noyes and her partner Tony Wilburn have also aided the Gerald-Rosebud Fire Protection District, using their bloodhounds to search for missing people.

When Noyes was first diagnosed and received radiation, the treatment wasn’t too severe, but the second treatment made her tired.

Because she had “zero energy,” Noyes hasn’t done much the past couple weeks, such as going on walks at the Gerald park, being outdoors, feeding the dogs and cleaning the kennels. She also said that probably unrelated to her cancer, her heart’s ejection fraction is at 20 percent instead of the normal 55 to 75 percent, contributing to her tiredness.

“I want to continue on, even though I know I have it. I want to be able to still do all the things that I could do,” she said. “And right now, that just isn’t possible.”

Noyes’ condition is manageable, but not curable.

“I will never not have it,” Noyes said. “You don’t really know what it will do. So, I could live six months or six years, or something else way down the road could kill me.”

For example, she will likely be able to return to work, but she probably won’t, especially since she was considering retiring. Even if she does, she may only be limited to part time so that she can still see her coworkers.

Noyes said that her situation is confusing because she doesn’t know how to plan, expressing concern about her grandchildren and her dogs.

Since her dogs serve the community, she has to consider whether to find them a new home. If she has one year left to live, she must start the search. But if she has six years, it is not as high of a priority, but she will need help.

“I’m just more aware because I have something that would like to kill me,” she said.

Noyes believes that she is “pretty tough.” While she was worried during the initial diagnosis, she didn’t think that it would significantly alter her life. Wilburn also believes she did emotionally well the first round of cancer treatment.

But now that her cancer is terminal, she is trying to remain positive for the future. Noyes said she doesn’t know how she finds hope and strength to keep going.

“She loses it once in a while but not very often,” Wilburn said.

During this battle, she said Wilburn, her friends, her brother in Washington state and the fire department have supported her.

Wilburn said that they don’t like to ask for help around the property, but the fire department has helped them anyway because the crew knows Wilburn and Noyes need it. The department has cleared weeds, split firewood, repaired the dog kennel and completed other difficult tasks around their property.

The Gerald-Rosebud Fire Protection District is also hosting a blacklight bingo fundraiser Oct. 17 to support Noyes.

Noyes said that recently, she hasn’t made the most of her days and hasn’t done much because she was tired. But until her sternum fractured, Noyes was continuing with life as normal.

Noyes’ advice to other women to battling cancer is to advocate for themselves. For example, she recently changed oncologists because her previous one didn’t believe that the cancer had spread. As a result, Noyes visited her primary care doctor, who ordered the necessary tests to make the determination.

Noyes’ biggest life lesson is to not quit. She and her daughter are widows, and during the first round of cancer treatments, her parents died. But even though it has been a lot, she hasn’t given up.

“Don’t quit. If you quit, you’re done,” she said.

To the younger generation, Noyes’s advice is work for what they want.

“It seems like kids expect everything handed to them,” she said. “Work for it, then you’ll be proud of it.”